Steve Benen: Last night, if you were watching the Super Bowl you saw a rather powerful ad on gun policy …. The spot, sponsored by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, urges policymakers to approve a universal background check, and features “America, the Beautiful” against the backdrop of young children.

About 12 hours earlier, Americans could see theNRA’s Wayne LaPierre on “Fox News Sunday,” making a very different kind of argument: “I make the same thing during the campaign, when he said to people I will not take away your rifle, shotgun, handgun. They leafletted the country with flyers like this, ‘Obama is not going to take your gun, Obama is going to protect gun rights.’ And, now, he’s trying to take away all three.”

….. therein lies the problem: the policy debate has become increasingly strained because one of the most influential lobbying groups in Washington relies on arguments based on evidence the organization has simply made up…..

Josh Marshall (TPM): I just found out that last September the NRA published an official list of gun enemies including the ADA, AMA, ADL, Mel Brooks, Chaka Khan and hundreds of other domestic gun enemies…..

The following organizations have lent monetary, grassroots or some other type of direct support to anti-gun organizations. In many instances, these organizations lent their name in support of specific campaigns to pass anti-gun legislation such as the March 1995 HCI “Campaign to Protect Sane Gun Laws.” Many of these organizations were listed as “Campaign Partners,” for having pledged to fight any efforts to repeal the Brady Act and the Clinton “assault weapons” ban. All have officially endorsed anti-gun positions.

Michael Tomasky: The Strangest NRA Story Yet – The fact that the NRA was keeping a list of its foes isn’t all that bizarre. But the list itself is positively loony — yet more evidence of just how nuts the NRA is

One of the sure markers of the paranoid mind is the urge to keep lists. In particular, lists of enemies, subversives, no-goodniks …. It virtually goes without saying that the keepers of such lists are always the bullies who survive by fomenting hatred and making sure that their constituents stay in a state of constant agitation. And so it was no surprise to learn over the weekend that the NRA has a little list of 497 people and organizations who are in some way, shape, or form anti-gun. It makes for hilarious reading, although it’s sort of frightening to think about the demented minds of the people who assembled it.

President Obama visited the Minneapolis Police Department’s Special Operations center to talk about his gun control proposals with local law enforcement officials.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Pres. Obama travels to the Minneapolis Police Department Special Operations Center to deliver remarks and discuss with local leaders and law enforcement officials his ideas to prevent gun violence.

The President is expected to address local experiences with gun violence and discuss additional steps that can be taken at the federal level to reduce gun violence.

In January, Pres. Obama announced anti-gun violence proposals recommended by the White House task force chaired by Vice President Joe Biden. In remarks to the press, he outlined proposals for legislative and executive actions to ban assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, implement universal background checks for all gun buyers, and to establish mental health and school safety measures.

The task force was formed in response to the December 14, 2012, elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Minneapolis is another city that had a deadly mass shooting in 2012.

A man holds up a gun control sign while President Obama’s motorcade passes on the way to the Minneapolis Police Department’s Special Operations Center Feb. 4

Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, Feb 4

Joan G., whose son was murdered with a gun – I Demand A Plan

Minneapolis today: Tom Morgan (right) & his friend drove from Detroit to show support for Pres Obama’s gun control plan.

At a press conference with the Minneapolis Police Department in Minneapolis Feb. 4, 2013, President Barack Obama called for action by way of “a set of commonsense ideas to reduce gun violence,” including universal background checks for all gun purchases, which he says are almost “universally supported by gun owners.”

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

February 04, 2013

Remarks by the President on Preventing Gun Violence in Minneapolis, MN

Well, it is good to be back in Minnesota. (Applause.) It is good to be back. Although I was commenting that they don’t really have winter in Washington, D.C. (Laughter.) So I’ve gotten soft over these last four years. When I was in Chicago, this was nothing. Now it’s something. (Laughter.) But I’m grateful for all of you being here today. I want to thank Chief Harteau and the entire Minneapolis Police Department for having me here today.

There are a number of other people that I just want to acknowledge here. First of all, a wonderful man and one of America’s greatest public servants is here — Walter Mondale, former Vice President. (Applause.) Your outstanding Governor, Mark Dayton, is here. (Applause.) Two great Mayors — Mayor R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis, and Mayor Chris Coleman of St. Paul. (Applause.) And your outstanding congressional delegation — Senator Amy Klobuchar — (applause) — Senator Al Franken — (applause) — Representative Keith Ellison — (applause) — and Representative Betty McCullough. (Applause.)

And I should acknowledge my outstanding Attorney General — what’s your name again? (Laughter.) He does a great job every single day, and I could not be prouder of Eric Holder for his leadership on this issue in particular. (Applause.)

Now, I just had a chance to sit down with some local police officers but also community leaders, as well as folks who themselves had been victims or whose families had been victims of gun violence, to hear their ideas about how we can protect our kids and address the broader epidemic of gun violence in this country. Because if we’re serious about preventing the kinds of tragedies that happened in Newtown, or the tragedies that happen every day in places like Chicago or Philadelphia or Minneapolis, then law enforcement and other community leaders must have a seat at the table.

All the folks standing here behind me today, they’re the ones on the front line of this fight. They see the awful consequences — the lives lost, the families shattered. They know what works, they know what doesn’t work, and they know how to get things done without regard for politics.

So we’ve had a very productive discussion. And one of the things that struck me was that even though those who were sitting around that table represented very different communities, from big cities to small towns, they all believe it’s time to take some basic, common-sense steps to reduce gun violence. We may not be able to prevent every massacre or random shooting. No law or set of laws can keep our children completely safe. But if there’s even one thing we can do, if there’s just one life we can save, we’ve got an obligation to try.

That’s been the philosophy here in Minneapolis. A few years back, you suffered a spike in violent crime involving young people. So this city came together. You launched a series of youth initiatives that have reduced the number of young people injured by guns by 40 percent — 40 percent. So when it comes to protecting our children from gun violence, you’ve shown that progress is possible. We’ve still got to deal with the 60 percent that remains, but that 40 percent means lives saved — parents whose hearts aren’t broken, communities that aren’t terrorized and afraid.

We don’t have to agree on everything to agree it’s time to do something. (Applause.) That’s my main message here today.

And each of us has a role to play. A few weeks ago, I took action on my own to strengthen background checks, to help schools get more resource officers if they want them, and to direct the Centers for Disease Control to study the causes of violence. Because for a long time, even looking at the evidence was considered somehow tough politics. And so Congress had taken the approach that, we don’t want to know. Well, that’s never the answer to a problem — is not wanting to know what is going on.

So we’ve been able to take some steps through administrative action. But while these steps are important, real and lasting change also requires Congress to do its part and to do it soon, not to wait. The good news is that we’re starting to see a consensus emerge about the action Congress needs to take.

The vast majority of Americans — including a majority of gun owners — support requiring criminal background checks for anyone trying to buy a gun. (Applause.) So right now, Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are working on a bill that would ban anyone from selling a gun to somebody legally prohibited from owning one. That’s common sense. There’s no reason we can’t get that done. That is not a liberal idea or a conservative idea; it’s not a Democratic or Republican idea — that is a smart idea. We want to keep those guns out of hands of folks who shouldn’t have them.

Senators from both parties have also come together and proposed a bill that would crack down on people who buy guns only to turn them around and sell them to criminals. It’s a bill that would keep more guns off the street and out of the hands of people with the intent of doing harm. (Applause.)

And, by the way, in addition to reducing violence on the streets, it would also make life a lot easier and a lot safer for the people standing behind me here today. (Applause.)

We shouldn’t stop there. We should restore the ban on military-style assault weapons and a 10-round limit for magazines. (Applause.) And that deserves a vote in Congress — because weapons of war have no place on our streets, or in our schools, or threatening our law enforcement officers. Our law enforcement officers should never be out-gunned on the streets. (Applause.)

But we also know that if we’re going to solve the problem of gun violence, then we’ve got to look at root causes as well. That means we should make it easier for young people to get access to mental health treatment. (Applause.) We should help communities like this one keep more cops on the beat. (Applause.) And since Congress hasn’t confirmed a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in six years, they should confirm your U.S. Attorney from Minnesota, Todd Jones, who is here today and who I’ve nominated for this post. (Applause.)

These are common-sense measures supported by Democrats, Republicans and independents, and many of them are responsible gun owners. And we’re seeing members of Congress from both parties put aside their differences and work together to make many of them a reality.

But if there’s one thing that I’ve learned over the last four years, it’s that you can’t count on anything in Washington until it’s done. And nothing is done yet. There’s been a lot of talk, a lot of conversation, a lot of publicity, but we haven’t actually taken concrete steps yet.

Last week, the Senate held its first hearing since Newtown on the need to address gun violence and the best way to move forward, and the first people to offer testimony were Gabby Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly. They talked about how a complex problem like this has no single solution, but if we still had a 10-round limit on magazines, for example, the gunman who shot Gabby may never have been able to inflict 33 gunshot wounds in 15 seconds. Fifteen seconds, 33 rounds fired. Some of the six people who lost their lives that day in Tucson might still be with us.

Now, changing the status quo is never easy. This will be no exception. The only way we can reduce gun violence in this country is if the American people decide it’s important. If you decide it’s important. If parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, hunters and sportsmen, Americans of every background stand up and say this time it’s got to be different — we’ve suffered too much pain to stand by and do nothing.

And by the way, it’s really important for us to engage with folks who don’t agree with us on everything, because we hope that we can find some areas where we do agree. And we have to recognize that there are going to be regional differences and geographic differences. The experience that people have of guns in an urban neighborhood may not be the same as in a rural community.

But we know, for example, from polling that universal background checks are universally supported just about, by gun owners. The majority of gun owners, overwhelming majority of gun owners think that’s a good idea. So if we’ve got lobbyists in Washington claiming to speak for gun owners saying something different, we need to go to the source and reach out to people directly. We can’t allow those filters to get in the way of common sense.

That’s why I need everybody who’s listening to keep the pressure on your member of Congress to do the right thing. Ask them if they support common-sense reforms like requiring universal background checks, or restoring the ban on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Tell them there’s no legislation to eliminate all guns; there’s no legislation being proposed to subvert the Second Amendment. Tell them specifically what we’re talking about — things that the majority of Americans, when they’re asked, support.

And tell them now is the time for action. That we’re not going to wait until the next Newtown or the next Aurora. We’re not going to wait until after we lose more innocent Americans on street corners all across the country. We’re not going to wait until somebody else’s father or son are murdered.

Some of the officers here today know what it’s like to look into the eyes of a parent or a grandparent, a brother or a sister who has just lost a loved one to an act of violence; to see the pain and the heartbreak from wondering why this precious life, this piece of your heart was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It changes you. You’re not the same afterwards.

And obviously whatever that experience is like is nothing compared to the experience that those families are actually going through. And it makes you realize that if there’s even one thing we can do to keep our children and our community safe, if there’s just one step we can take to prevent more families from feeling what they feel after they’ve lost a loved one, we’ve got an obligation to take that step. We’ve got an obligation to give our police officers and our communities the tools they need to make some of the same progress that’s been made here in Minneapolis.

There won’t be perfect solutions. We’re not going to save every life. But we can make a difference. And that’s our responsibility as Americans. And that’s what I’ll do every single day as long I’ve got the honor of serving as your President.

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jueseppi, dear sir, thank you for these posts and i applaud the many steps our president takes in the direction of preventing gun violence. i imagine MyPresident had access to photos of the sandy hook horror that linger in his mind and heart for a lifetime… i wish him an ever growing peace in this regard and all things.

i completely LOVE the video of the Sandy Hook Choir and Jennifer Hudson! ;~) i missed this segment yesterday and THANK YOU dearest (doa) for sharing it. enjoy your week my sweet. :)

Thank you Capricornrising….I had to rescue your comment from the spam folder, I hardly ever go into spam, just automatically dump it every 2 days….so if I missed any comments, it’s because they had started going into spam. I am glad you liked this post, and the Sandy Hook Choir was spectacular!! 8-)

My heart goes out to those precious children from Sandy Hook for having the courage to perform for America after going through the dreadful occurrence at their school.May God give them the strength to overcome this tragedy.Great performance including Jennifer Hudson..